Data & Analytics

Sandpoint, Idaho -- Private equity firm Golden Gate Capital has provided Coldwater Creek with a five-year, $65 million senior secured term loan. The retailer also announced the completion of an amendment to its $70 million revolving credit facility with Wells Fargo Capital Finance, which matures on May 16, 2016.

To help manage its rapidly growing e-commerce business, Walmart’s Asda division in the United Kingdom has selected multiple components of Manhattan Associates supply chain solutions portfolio known as SCOPE.

Asda Direct, the retailer’s general merchandise ecommerce operation, will deploy the supply chain solutions within several distribution centers across the United Kingdom and leverage the Manhattan Associates Supply Chain Process Platform.

By Renato Scaff, [email protected] and Mark Allen, [email protected]

While the proliferation of new products, personalized services, and digital channels are giving consumers more shopping options than ever, they also are making it tough for traditional retailers and consumer goods manufacturers to capitalize on the demand being created. Succeeding in this environment will require a new level of seamless retail-supplier collaboration.

Martin Fry has joined Premier Retail Networks as chief operating officer, the company announced Monday.

New York – Best Buy is cutting 2,400 employees, including 1,800 store employees and 600 Geek Squad technical support associates, employees, as it seeks to restructure operations, the Associated Press reported.

The layoffs amount to about 1.4% of the company’s total staff of 167,000. A Best Buy spokesman, Bruce Hight, said the cuts were part of the company’s “ongoing turnaround plan,” according to the report.

Houston -- Ikea on Monday officially plugged-in the solar energy system installed at its store in Houston. The installation, when combined with Ikea solar projects atop stores in Frisco and Round Rock, will make the home furnishings retailer the state’s largest solar owner.

It may be back to basics in Walmart’s apparel department, but shoppers still crave discounted brands and fashion as evidenced by continued strength at some familiar retailers.

TJX and Ross Stores both posted same-store sales increases of 7% during June, and both companies used the occasion of the better-than-expected results to elevate their profits forecasts. TJX said June sales increase 9% to $2.3 billion, while Ross said its June sales increased 12% to $886 million.

Not too long ago, I interviewed Christy Parra, who is the logistics director for The Container Store. The interview was for an article on the company’s deployment of a voice-directed picking system in its distribution center. But what struck me throughout our discussion was the context in which Parra framed the new technology: It had as much to do with the employees as it did efficiencies and cost savings.